


a moment of roses

by ivyclub



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, brothers renjun and chenle, chinaline are all espers, espers au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 00:49:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21152843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivyclub/pseuds/ivyclub
Summary: Renjun was a regular kid growing up, attending school and watching cartoons, playing with his younger brother Chenle and giving him drawings because his mom told him to be nice.But Renjun, unlike a regular kid, had weird abilities.





	a moment of roses

**Author's Note:**

> just me having fun with chinaline. i really love mob psycho so when second season came out i started working on this!! long time coming ://
> 
> also it is endgame noren but theres really only about 4 pages of noren out of the 17 written pages,, its mostly renle being brothers figuring out how to be espers with the rest of chinaline. enjoy :-)
> 
> title from before i wilt by the traces

The first time Renjun knew something was different was when he was 7 years old. It was the middle of the afternoon on a quiet Saturday, and little Renjun was in his room, coloring some pretty flowers all inside the lines. He had just picked up the blue colored pencil to draw in some clouds when he heard his mother call him from downstairs.

“Renjun, it’s time to eat!”

“I’m coming!” Renjun puts down the blue colored pencil back into its respective place within the box and he runs out of his room. There was never the rule of don’t run inside the house with him, mostly because he didn’t run often and he and his brother weren’t that clumsy. But Renjun thinks maybe that rule should be instilled as his socked feet slip from under him as he skitters across the hardwood floors. Before he can even think, he’s already called out “mommy!” and waits for his head to slam against the ground.

Renjun is crying when his mother makes it to him, only to see her son floating a few feet off the ground in a fetal position, hands wrapped around the back of his head. 

“Oh, what’s wrong?”

“M-mommy I-I’m-,” but Renjun’s breath keeps stuttering and he's crying too hard to answer. 

She walks over to wipe his tears away from his face, petting down his hair while she says, “Open your eyes honey, you’re okay.” He shakes his head and snuffles a little, but he opens his eyes anyway and sees that he’s… fine? And not on the ground? 

Quickly, he brings his hands to his face to rub at all his tears and snot to make sure he’s not making things up in his head, like Moomi, his imaginary cow friend who told him to eat grass with him during play time at kindergarten (He did. It wasn't as bad as he thought but he also didn't eat it ever again). He really was floating though, and he was eye to eye with his mother who he always had to look up at because he was small. 

Renjun cries even harder.

It got easier after the first incident to normalize this, though Renjun doesn't ever recall strange occurrences such as that one happening at a younger age; but he also had maybe a megabyte of memory prior to then. Renjun was a regular kid growing up, attending school and watching cartoons, playing with his younger brother Chenle and giving him drawings because his mom told him to be nice. 

But Renjun, unlike a regular kid, had weird abilities. Like he could talk to and see spirits for example (though it was honestly more of seeing than talking). Most of them were rather harmless: two nice amorphous blobs that sat at the bus bench who didn’t seem all that bothered when a bunch of kids sat right on top of them, Renjun doesn’t know why; or the cat that phased through the classroom door to bask in the sunlight coming through the window next to Renjun's desk; or Moomi, the cow that made him eat grass with him. There were a few mean ones, like the anthropomorphic tiger that wandered through the city streets, or the man with three eyes and too many teeth that Renjun had learned very quickly to not accept candy from. He learned how to defend himself too, “exorcising” minor spirits that did more harm than good but not without a little struggle. The first mean spirit he exorcised happened accidentally because he was trying to show Chenle and he pointed too harshly at it, then suddenly it was gone. 

Chenle was also “special” like Renjun: two brothers who inherited some weird abilities from somewhere. Renjun realized it first only because Chenle just believed it was a fluke, just some mistake. Their kitchen drawers were filled with weak spoons from the times its been bent backwards without the boys knowing, and slightly splintered chopsticks that have a crack up the side from where they could snap but haven’t yet. 

Neither of them have learned quite yet how to control everything perfectly. Though they both are able to exorcise minor spirits, any task requiring more accidental energy needed to scream and point at a spirit charging at them has proven unsuccessful. Chenle can control fire a little, able to bring a flame to the tips of his fingers and have it burn endlessly. The only other thing Renjun can do is help plants grow faster and in the way he wants them to. If this problem continues, Renjun will just live out his days as the world’s most successful florist.

Well, he knows it'll continue. He's read about it a few times, the existence of people who possess incredible abilities: espers. He wouldn't call gardening an incredibly ability, exactly, he just knows he can make plants grow- he's watched himself do it. Renjun knows he can levitate too from that one experience as a child, but he doesn't even know how to bring it about. Several times he has slipped and just face planted, so why did they only work that once? Is pointing and screaming at some eye tricks considered an exorcism or was Renjun hallucinating that his whole life too. 

It’ll have to get better at some point, Renjun reasons. For now, he’ll just have to live with this problem. At least his mother is happy with her garden. 

It’s the morning of a new day, Renjun likes to tell himself. 

He grips his bookbag straps as he walks down the hall to his locker, heart beating loudly. Every day is a new day Renjun continues to repeat. As he makes it to his locker, he suddenly hears a familiar voice from all the way down the hall, through all the other noise, and whips his head around.

Jeno Lee, the most handsome boy in the school. 

Renjun is too prideful to admit that he’s been harboring quite the crush on Jeno since their first year in school together. They were the same age, and Renjun had just transferred and was struggling with working his locker. He had also just gotten his schedule and didn’t have any of the books that were necessary, and he knew that day was not going to be a good day. After several painful minutes of constantly rattling the door, Jeno had come up next to him and help him, spinning the lock and opening the door. 

“I’m Jeno, I’m your locker neighbor,” he said with a bright smile. And the rest was history.

Well, sort of.

He then spent a lot trying to figure out Jeno and become closer friends with him during the time that they were at their lockers. Renjun was in honors classes, and Jeno wasn’t, meaning the only time he would see Jeno was in the five minutes every morning allotted them to get their books and get to class. Five minutes over three years added up to a lot. More than that, Jeno was now in some of his classes and was always a sociable person. There wasn’t a student who didn’t swoon over him. He was handsome, and sweet, and he looked like the puppy you wanted to coddle forever; but he could also be reliable and trusting, someone to confide in and gain trust from. 

Jeno referred to him as his locker buddy and always set aside those five minutes in the morning to have a good conversation with Renjun. His basketball friends would tease him constantly about it, rushing down the hall and hooting his name as Jeno tried to talk to Renjun. Even Chenle, who recently joined the basketball team and was now friends with Jeno, would holler at him, waggling his eyebrows at Renjun who would only stare him down and threaten to break his knees when they got home. 

Today was different. Today, Renjun was going to try to confess. 

Jeno comes from around the corner as always, walking with one of his buddies named Jaemin. Renjun has a flower hidden his locker, a single red rose that was perfectly bloomed- the one thing he knew how to use his abilities for- and a handwritten note. It was simple: pull out the flower and note, tell Jeno that he likes him, and then move on with the day. If he says no, we die; if he says yes, we celebrate. Simple. 

“Hi Renjun,” Jeno says. Renjun nearly smashes his face right into the door of his open locker to look at him. He’s dyed his hair recently, a beautiful platinum blonde that makes him look even more sharp, and Renjun almost loses focus. 

“H-hi. Hello.” Jeno gives him a smile and opens his locker while Renjun takes a deep breath and pulls out the flower. As he reaches in, the note that was attached falls, and Renjun has to bend down to pick it back up, standing and smashing the back of his head on the locker door. The loud metallic clang reverberates down the hall and everyone turns to look at the source of the noise. Oh no, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go, Renjun thinks. 

“Sorry, everyone, you can. Turn back around now,” Renjun winces through his words. 

“Are you okay?” Jeno starts. He reaches his hand out to help Renjun up.

“Yeah I’m okay, sorry. I-sorry. Um.” Renjun stands and holds out the flower. “I wanted to tell you that… uh, I wanted to say that I think you’re cool.” 

“Oh, thank you,” Jeno says, sounding genuinely touched. Okay, it’s getting better.

“Uh. Okay uh. Want to- uh. I want to hang out with you more.” Renjun stutters. Jeno looks a little confused and glances towards the flower in Renjun’s hand. Renjun looks down too and his heart drops.

The flower is wilted and falling apart. Almost as if Renjun picked a flower and put it right in the oven, the petals are brown and even the stem is starting to split down the middle. It looks pitiful really, and Renjun is so embarrassed. 

“Oh god. Sorry, this wasn’t supposed to happen.” He clenches the flower in his fist and it suddenly turns to dust, falling to nothing right onto the ground. Renjun remembers the note and pulls it from where he placed it on the ledge of his locker to give to Jeno, only for the note too to crumple itself right into a ball and burst into flames. Renjun brings his hand away, now covered in ashes and panics. Five minutes wasn’t long enough because the first bell to signal students to start going to class rings, and Jeno is about to leave. 

“I’m going to… go? Sorry...” 

“Wait,” Renjun starts. He reaches out, not intending to grab Jeno’s arm only reaching, but he does, and leaves a dirty grey handprint right on his nice white long sleeve. Pulling his hand away, he drags some of the soot down to the cuff until he realizes what he’s done, and snatches his hand away like he’s been burned. “Oh my god…” 

_Fuck_ is all he can think before he runs off, tears in his eyes, not even bothering to shut his locker closed or look at Jeno’s face even before he books it. He doesn’t even know where he’s going yet, but he pushes open the doors of the school right as the second bell rings and keeps running. Eventually he makes it to some park down the street and disappears into the trees. He’s so incredibly out of breath and full of shame he can’t do anything but cry. 

Renjun curls into himself, huffing a little as he tries regaining his footing and failing, sitting down right onto the grass. Tears keep rolling down his face and he can’t stop the crushing sensation that’s happening in his chest. The ground beneath him shakes lightly, protesting his emotions, but it’s already too late. The areas all around him start sinking down, like the force of gravity has increased tenfold and even the clouds weighed tonnes. Soil gets forced up through the crack in the ground in a circle around Renjun and the grass rips apart. His ears continue to ring while the earth continues to crumble to pieces.

The world is such a cruel place. Why isn’t there anyone like him? Sure, he has Chenle, but it’s so hard to talk to him about this when he can barely understand it himself. He feels the ground sink lower beneath him. 

Imagine if he knew how to work with this stupid anomaly. He doesn’t want to be the most powerful person, he just wants to be able to eat dinner normally and touch things normally without making them float. He just wants to be a normal kid. 

Renjun skips school the next day, telling Chenle he doesn’t feel well and that he wants to sleep in. He feels bad but he isn’t lying entirely- he doesn’t feel well, but it’s not a sick unwell. Lying awake in his bed, he tries to find out if he has other abilities, like erasing other peoples’ memories or, even better,his own, but to no avail. When Chenle makes it home from classes with concern etched onto his face as he peeks into Renjun’s room, Renjun finally gets up and asks if he would like to go to the park with him. Being outside around nature always helped Renjun calm down, probably because of his ability to help plants. If he loses his mind, it just means the park might get one more tree or a few more flowers, and who did that ever harm? 

Chenle agrees enthusiastically, glad that his brother is feeling okay enough to get out of the house with him. They slip on their shoes and leave a note on the counter before heading out to the park. The park is only a few minutes away from both their house and the school, meaning it was the perfect place to be when they either didn’t want to be at home or in class. It isn’t a small park, a few acres of plain grass and trailways that loop throughout with a playground or two inside. A river runs alongside it, which is a great place to watch the ducks swim by on a nice day like today. 

The brothers are caught in the middle of a conversation when they hear someone calling Renjun’s name. His blood runs cold at the thought of it being Jeno, that maybe he accidentally ran into him while walking because Jeno likes to come to this park to practice with his friends, but he realizes he doesn’t recognize the voice, and he turns around slowly. 

“Hey, Renjun!” the owner of the voice says rather cheerfully. This dude has got to be like seven feet tall, there’s no way he knows Renjun, not unless other 18 year olds got that massive in high school. “Sorry to interrupt- hi Chenle.” To say they are shocked has to be an understatement.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Renjun asks, grabbing Chenle’s arm to move him slightly behind Renjun. 

“Lucas? Uh, we’re in global studies together?” The other dude, Lucas, looks at him confused and a little hurt. Renjun can’t help but feel guilty a little- that is one of the classes with Jeno in it, so Renjun isn’t surprised that he might have tunnel visioned everyone else out of focus. He softens his expression a little and lets go of the tight grip on Chenle’s arm, still keeping a hand out as a sign for the younger to keep behind him. 

“Um, right sorry. Did you need something?” 

“Actually, the teacher wanted me to give you the project worksheets. I said I lived by you so I could drop them off and she handed them to me so…” Lucas says, reaching into his bookbag to grab a folder to hand to Renjun. 

Shit. Now Renjun feels super guilty for not remembering him because he apparently lives close enough that he’d go out of his way to get Renjun his missed work too. Renjun reaches out to grab the folder, and his vision goes, dropping him into a world of blackness. 

He can hear the trees rustle as birds take off from it’s branches, and Chenle calling his name and asking if he’s okay, but he can’t see anything and he doesn’t know if it’s because his eyes are closed or if he really just got dipped into ink. Everything is too much, he can hear every person in this park as all the outside noise starts cancelling out- all the blades of grass, all the ants, all the ducks. His heart starts beating rapidly and he tries moving his hands or toes or anything to let himself know that he’s not actually dead or something. A moment later, he opens his eyes and he’s sitting in the grass at the park. 

“Renjun! Renjun, are you okay?” Chenle asks, his hand on his shoulder. Renjun blinks a few times. He probably just blacked out like when he stands up too fast or something. Lucas stands in front of him, looking at Renjun expressionlessly. 

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Renjun manages to get out, using Chenle to help him stand up. The folder he thought he grabbed is now gone and he spins around to see if he had dropped it in his haze. “Sorry, I think I dropped-”

“So you are an esper,” Lucas says, voice low. Chenle freezes and looks slowly over at Renjun who is rather unfazed for what just happened.

“Don’t know him,” Renjun quips back. Lucas rolls his eyes.

“Come with me.” Lucas starts walking off, not bothering to look behind in case neither of the boys are following because he knows they will. Renjun’s shaky on his feet but he walks towards him anyway after having an angry staredown with Chenle about whether or not they should 

“What did you even do to me?” Renjun asks. 

“Just transferring some of my energy. If you were an esper, you would only sense things that were important.” But that’s all the explanation Lucas gives.

“And if I wasn’t?” Lucas only shrugs. How does Renjun know what he saw was important? They make it to an emptier part of the park where the trees are taller and loom over them, blocking direct line of sight from other passerbys. 

“I’m an esper too. The folder didn’t have anything in it by the way, so don’t worry about that. I don’t know if you’re actually missing classwork though, so you should…” He waves his hand in dismissal. His bookbag was gone too, Renjun notices. 

“Prove it.” Chenle says, after being silent for most of the walk. Sure he just made Renjun enter a fifth dimension but Chenle didn’t see it so it’s not enough proof. This guy could be a wacko. 

Lucas lifts his hand, palm up, and curls his fingers slightly towards him. It took a few seconds, but soon enough, a little ball of energy was circling in his palm. And then he lets go, allowing the ball to float freely in the air, swirling yellow and black and pink. Renjun and Chenle watch the energy spark and circle inside its bubble, until it breaks out and sends streams of smoky black flowing into the park. 

As the streams move outwards, the trails at the ends morph the scenery- the grass gets longer and the skies get darker. There are people, things, that Renjun has never seen before walking around them while the lines of black energy continue travelling up towards the skies. But with just a snap of Lucas’ fingers, the black smoke flies back to where the ball was before, that even collapsing on itself, and then it was gone- all the figures and things with it. 

“What happened!” Chenle screeches. 

“We can help you control your abilities like this. To channel your energy and utilize it better.” Renjun and Chenle look at each other skeptically. “Do you trust me?” 

Renjun was willing to trust three dogs stacked on top of each other if they promised to make living that much easier. He just wants to be a normal kid. And judging off what Lucas just did to him, Renjun thinks it’s safe to say that Lucas is a powerful esper, and one that can control his abilities. Unless he’s going around and making everyone black out randomly, but that probably isn’t it. Renjun nods, but Chenle continues to be a little cautious.

“Wait, who is we? And what will you do?” he asks. Lucas chuckles.

“I have some friends who are also espers. They’ll aid you in learning how to not randomly bend spoons or break things. We use exercises, like learning how to write, to teach you.” Chenle still seems hesitant, but he can see Renjun’s eyes sparkle at the thought of not being an outcast to himself, and he can’t help but give in.

“Okay. We’ll do it.” 

Doing it, whatever it was, was not easy. Lucas’s training tactics were questionable at best, especially since right now, Renjun and Chenle were running in an open field in the middle of the park while some other random was bringing objects from the ground in front of them for them to avoid. Somewhere in the back of his head, Renjun remembers Lucas calling the dude Winner or something dumb like that, but he pushes the thought out of his mind to focus on not passing out. More than once he’s smacked right into a floating pile of dirt or tripped over a massive rock that appeared from nowhere. 

Lucas blows his whistle after some minutes and Renjun and Chenle can’t help but immediately collapse to the ground. 

“What! Was that supposed to do,” Chenle pants. “You still trust these fools?” He can’t see Renjun nodding, too tired to turn his head to see him. They hear clapping getting closer, and Renjun sits up to see Lucas and the other dude walking towards them.

“You’re quite the athletes. Are you tired?” Lucas asks. Renjun scoffs. “Perfect.” Lucas moves off slightly to the side of Renjun and holds his arms behind his back.

“Catch,” Lucas says. It’s the only warning Renjun gets before he sees something hurtling towards him. Before he can think of bringing his arms up, settling on being hit in the face, he turns his head and braces for the impact. 

But it never comes. Right as Renjun opens his eyes, he feels something fall into his lap. It’s a tennis ball, and it’s ripped apart like someone smashed it open with a baseball bat.

“Were you trying to fucking kill me?” Renjun asks. 

“I’m glad you think so, but no. I was trying to tire you out to see how you respond under fatigue. You seem to still be pretty keen.” He nods over to Chenle. “You too, carrot top.” Renjun turns to look at Chenle, whose tennis ball is floating in front of his face, also torn apart like Renjun’s is. 

“You’ll learn in time how not to mangle it,” the other dude starts. Renjun still has no clue what his name is. “For now, this is a great start. We’ll do this again.” 

He watches the dude as he walks away, perfect posture irritating him even more than the fact that he did nothing but throw grass in their faces. For how little he actually trusts these strangers, he has enough of an inkling of hope that they could help him. Before Lucas can turn to take his leave, Renjun catches his arm. 

“You never told me how you found us. I feel stupid enough to trust you so you gotta at least let me know before you end up sacrificing me to the gods,” he says hushed. He doesn’t want Chenle finding out if they’ll actually die by the hands of these guys so he doesn’t speak too loud. What if they end up gaining something before they die? “Pulling two kids out into an empty park like this, how do I know you aren’t going to do something awful like murder?”

“Because I’m not stupid enough to kill someone in broad daylight,” Lucas grits out.

“So you were trying to kill us? Or were you gonna sell us off to some ring where weird kids like us get exploited for our abilities that we didn’t ask for?” 

“You know when you were crying in the forest and you made a damn sinkhole? You had a ridiculous amount of energy just radiating off you for miles, and I felt it. I found you, and I want to help you because pulling shit like that is what gets you caught, and then we all get caught,” Lucas scowls. He clears his throat then backs off when he sees Chenle looking worriedly at them over Renjun’s shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow, same place. You’ll be meeting some new people.” 

Chenle rushes up to Renjun once he knows Lucas is out of earshot. “What did he say? He looked angry…” Renjun lets out a deep sigh, the sun still blazing in the park.

“That we should trust him.” 

The next day, Renjun and Chenle make it back to the middle of a park where dirt was hurled at them not even 24 hours before. This time, without any form of warning or notice, Renjun sees several tennis balls flying towards them. For saying they wanted to help them, they pull an awful lot of unannounced things. 

Renjun is able to focus on one, right in the middle, and stop it. The ball drops to the ground, mangled like the one before it from yesterday. Unfortunately for him, there were still two more and they did not follow rules of momentum, so like any other person, he ducks. 

He hears someone tsk, and he looks up to see another man, neither Lucas or the guy from yesterday, standing in front of him. “That wasn’t the point,” he says. Renjun looks up and the tennis balls that were previously floating above him fall. He hears three thumps from next to him and Chenle’s screech. “You were supposed to stop all of them before they hit you.” 

“But I did,” Chenle retorts.

“No you didn’t, you ducked. I stopped them.”

“Wow okay,” Chenle says, indignant. “And who are you?”

“My name is Ten. You’ve already met Lucas and Winwin-” Winwin, Renjun thinks, that’s his damn name, “from yesterday. I know they jumped right in, but I want to see what you can do.” He gestures in front of him. “Go ahead.” 

Renjun and Chenle look at each other, confusion etched clearly onto their faces. What can they do? 

“Wait, don’t you want to know our names first?” Chenle asks. 

“No,” Ten replies curtly. “I already know them.” 

“Okay well anyway, we can’t do anything.” 

“Sure you can,” Ten says. “We wouldn’t have found you if you couldn’t do anything at all.” 

“I can grow plants?” Renjun offers. Ten gestures to show him, and Renjun holds out his hand at one of the small white flowers in front of him. He closes his fist in front of them and then opens it, flexing his fingers upwards. The little flowers bloom bigger and grow taller, along with the other grasses. The previously budding flowers bloom all the way, and soon enough, there’s a nice little patch of white flowers in front of Renjun’s feet. 

“And you?” Ten asks Chenle. Chenle looks around before holding out his hands as well, sparking a flame right on his fingertips. Unlike watching magicians on television or seeing tricks online, Chenle’s fire continues to burn confidently, and even grows with focus. He extinguishes the flame by curling his hand into a fist- which he found out could either extinguish it or set his whole hand on fire. That wasn’t a very fun day. 

“Okay. Anything else?” Ten asks slightly amused at their small tricks. He knew Lucas said something about feeling powerful espers but this is child’s play. The pair shake their heads and Ten rolls his eyes. 

“I’m being serious, we don’t know,” Chenle says again with more fervor. Ten sighs.

“Well then let me show you what I can do.” Ten smiles, teeth bright and shining, and somehow ends up behind the both of them, placing his hands on Renjun and Chenle’s shoulders. A split second later, less than, and Renjun’s vision flashes, staining white before it clears, and suddenly, he isn’t at the park anymore. To his dismay, he isn’t even standing in grass either- he’s being tipped forward, held by his shoulder over a ravine. 

“Bitch! The dude yesterday said he wasn’t gonna fucking kill us but you’re doing pretty damn awful at convincing me that! Let me go! What the fuck!” 

“Okay,” Ten says, and he lets them go. Chenle absolutely screams while Renjun just closes his eyes, refusing to see himself plummet a million feet to his death. 

It’s especially surprising when he feels himself stop falling almost immediately, opening his eyes to see he’s back in the park, yet still not on the ground (he should really keep his eyes open so he can see what the hell just happened). He whips his head around, people looking at him because first) he’s floating in a fetal position several feet above the grass and second) Chenle hasn't stopped screaming yet. He reaches over to slap Chenle, who opens his eyes and stops screaming once he sees he isn’t falling anymore. Renjun stretches his legs out to land in the grass, but his knees buckle and he falls down heaving, the sensation of moving so fast making him nauseous. 

“You guys… are awful,” Renjun works out between pants. 

“I brought you back before you fell, and you also started floating, so no worries. You just needed a little push.” 

“More like a shove,” Chenle adds from his own position sprawled out on the grass. Ten shrugs. 

“Tomato tomato. Anyway, that's all for today." And Ten starts walking away. 

"Whoa hey, hang on. You were just about to throw me off a cliff and you're just gonna leave?" Renjun sits back on his haunches as he stares holes into Ten's back. 

"I don't know what your insistence is about us trying to kill you but cut it out. And second, yes I am because I just wanted to gather a baseline. I’m not Lucas." Ten sighs at the end of his statement and turns around, giving them a single wave and then disappearing, leaving barely any dust behind. Renjun flops back down onto the grass. If every “training” session was going to be like this, Renjun would have to start his floral arrangements business right now. 

Stupidly, really stupidly, Renjun wakes up late. Several minutes after Chenle came into his room to push him over and tell him it’s time to get up, Renjun had fallen back asleep. It was only when Chenle’s high scream rang throughout the house about leaving Renjun behind does he finally rub the sleep out of his eyes. 

They don’t live that far away from the school, so the walk isn’t that bad, meaning Renjun doesn’t really need to rush unnecessarily. Ten minutes before his first class starts, Renjun walks out of the house and take a caffeinated 7 minutes to walk to the school, sitting down in his seat right as the first bells rang. 

“Renjun,” he hears in a hushed tone beside him. He turns and comes face to face with Jeno. Oh shit, Jeno. “You weren’t here the other day or at your locker this morning. Are you feeling okay?”

Renjun’s heart flutters a little. Jeno, even after the disaster of a confession, is still as courteous and kind as ever. He half thinks Jeno pushed the clown show into the depths of his memory because there’s no way Renjun would even think about talking to Jeno until months after. 

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just a little sick, I guess,” Renjun says. Jeno gives him a small smile. 

During a break, Jeno even waits for Renjun to finish putting away some of his stuff. Renjun feels a little guilty, and a little like Jeno is treating him like a charity case. He doesn’t want to bring up the Incident, but he doesn’t want Jeno to feel like he should make him feel better after being so dumb. It seems like Jeno can sense his distress, and he speaks up. 

“We couldn’t talk this morning, so I wanted to do it now,” Jeno tells him, eyes smiling. Renjun thinks it might really be impossible to stay mad at this guy. 

Renjun and Chenle go to school as per usual and head straight home together. Ten didn’t say anything about the next day so they just weren’t going to go to the park and have to put up with their shenanigans. They haven’t even learned anything yet, unless finding out that you can levitate is new but Renjun already knew he could, he just didn’t know how to make it happen.

“Hey, Renjun?” Chenle asks, head peeking through the doorframe of Renjun’s room. “Do you think they’re gonna like. I don’t know, summon us or something?” 

Renjun looks up at Chenle confused. “No? They didn’t say anything, why?”

“Just kinda feel like I’m being watched.” To be honest, Renjun wouldn’t even put it past him if they were, so he just shrugs. He feels bad for not being able to reassure Chenle like he wants to, but he himself doesn’t know what Lucas and Ten and the Winwin character are capable of. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Renjun says, forcing a smile onto his face. Why would they do something like watch them?

(“You were,” Ten says the next time he sees them. Lucas and Winwin are with him as well, and they talk to each other as Ten deals with the brothers. Renjun has nothing but pure confusion etched onto his face. “Being watched, I mean.” Chenle sighs.

“I knew it.”)

Outside of classes, which steadily become harder, it’s several days, almost weeks, of these same antics from these dudes and Renjun is pretty sure, maybe 45%, that the other dudes are just fucking with them at this point. The only thing Renjun has succeeded in is learning how to control his ability to levitate, and that’s only because he’s not gonna keep waiting for Ten to throw him off a cliff. 

They’ve since met someone new, someone by the name of Kun who turns Renjun’s kind of convinced of fuckery into a little bit skeptical. Kun, who has so far been nothing but a reassuring and supportive figure to Renjun and Chenle who are honestly frustrated at their lack of control. Renjun has torn apart more tennis balls than are probably played at Wimbledon, and Chenle has set fire to himself more than once trying to extinguish his flame. But it was Kun who always told them that he can see progress, and puts out the fires immediately after they’re set. After just a month or so of messing around in the park, Renjun and Chenle have both found out more about themselves than they have through accidental discovery. 

It took a really long time. A lot of Kun giving them tasks to see if they could complete it. The first day they were introduced to the concept of compacting their energy like how they saw Lucas do went a little differently than anticipated. 

[ Renjun stood some feet away in the middle of an empty field that Ten had teleported them to. 

“Are you ready?” Kun asks, throwing his voice a little so Renjun could hear him better. The latter gives a nod and thumbs up, Chenle standing by Kun giving him a thumbs up right back. “Remember, your energy is only as powerful as you make it, so don’t worry about it not being enough.” 

Renjun forces himself to focus, shaking out his limbs. Just like he had seen Lucas do, he holds out his hand with the palm facing up and summons some of his energy. A small sphere of black and blue starts to form, the size of a ping pong ball, and steadily grows into something almost basketball sized. 

Kun smiles from where he stands watching Renjun, and Renjun can’t help but feel proud at his being able to do this, knowing Kun is watching over him. He mimics the motion of tossing a ball, the energy sphere going up to about eye level before sinking down, and he steps back. His hand is ready to snap, but he feels a slight tug on the flannel he’s wearing. 

From where the ball is floating, Renjun can see that the air around is being sucked into it, and his flannel is being drawn into the vacuum as well. He takes a cautious step back and looks over at Kun and Ten, who watch the ball curiously while walking closer. Picking up a rock, Ten tosses it in its general direction and watches it get sucked right in. Renjun can feel the air around him getting thin. 

“What’s happening?” Renjun asks, sounding more curious than fearful. Kun still looks confused and if Renjun and Chenle know anything, they know that anything Kun doesn’t know is something they should all be scared of. The brothers watch as Kun uses his own abilities to push the ball closer to the ground, the grass being ripped straight from the soil into the ball, and the soil underneath pulled up into it as well. Ten quickly grabs Kun’s arm, grabbing both Renjun and Chenle’s shoulders, and teleporting them right back to where they were before the fields. 

“What was that?” Renjun asks louder. Kun and Ten only look at each other, seeming to communicate telepathically (Renjun hates when they do that). Ten nudges at Kun to answer the question, who turns around with a raised eyebrow.

“I think you made a black hole.”

“Oh my god, and you just let me?” ]

Chenle’s first attempt at telekinesis didn’t work so well either. Instead of making a red apple float, Chenle did the exact opposite of what Renjun did by making everything in their vicinity 0g. 

Kun praised him at first for being able to move so many objects telekinetically, until he realized he wasn’t moving down anytime soon. A good ten minutes passed of leisurely yet somewhat distressed floating occurred before Chenle finally focused enough from his laughing fit to restore the regular force of gravity. 

Kun also suggested telepathy since Renjun and Chenle were brothers. Lucas had a brother named Hendery who he could communicate telepathically with, so maybe these brothers could do the same as well. 

Whether or not they actually can communicate telepathically, Kun will never know. At the first mention of it, and the day they tried it, Renjun and Chenle sat laughing at each other for maybe ten minutes. They would both pause and then look at each other again before bursting into a fit of giggles. There’s probably likely cause to believe that they can, but Kun isn’t going to make assumptions. 

At the end of the first month or training together, Kun and the rest of them are brought to an empty parking lot. For good reason, Renjun and Chenle are nervous because they’ve never done anything in a parking lot before and they also really don’t want to be charged with damaging properties. 

“We’re not gonna get in trouble right? I kinda need to finish school…” Renjun says, glancing around. Kun and his friends are gathered around him and Chenle in the empty lot, arms crossed. Kun laughs and waves him off, cracking a smile among the solemn faces. 

“If you know what you’re doing, of course not.”

“Huh?”

“Anyway, we’re here just to see how far you’ve gone. Come at us,” Kun says, not changing stance or demeanor.

“One more time: _huh_?” It’s Ten’s turn to laugh at him, and even Winwin manages to break out a chuckle. 

“Think of it like a practice exam: we’ll help you work on things you need to improve.” 

“But what if we hurt you?” Chenle blurts out. 

“Like you could hurt us,” Winwin drawls. 

Where do they even begin? Kun is the human embodiment of predictive text, meaning it wouldn’t be smart to pull a fast one on him probably. Ten can teleport, so even if Renjun was to try at him, Ten would just flash away. With Lucas and Winwin, Renjun and Chenle don’t know too much about them but they know they’re overpowered. Should they each go for someone different or should they go for the same person? Are-

“You’re taking so long. I’ll fucking start,” Ten scowls. 

Just like before, he’s behind Renjun in a split second and Renjun whips his left arm out to try to hit him. Before his elbow can even connect, Ten is gone, and Renjun is up in the air, in the middle of nowhere. 

“In front of you,” Ten says. Renjun glares at Ten, who is also floating a few feet in front of him. He doesn’t know how to fight in mid-air (yet), but he's never needed to. The older gets right in front of him, grabbing his arm and yanking him down. It feels like a barrier breaking, and Renjun falls out of the sky until he’s stopped, momentum carrying him forward and choking him on his shirt. He’s hanging above the commotion in the parking lot once again. 

Renjun forces himself down, landing on the hard concrete falling to his knees as he lands. The cars by the end of the lot rattle at the impact. Chenle is looking around wildly, fire burning bright in his fist as he finds someone to aim at. 

“Over here!” Winwin singsongs. Renjun clenches his jaw, spotting the weeds over by the man poking up through cracks in the concrete. He summons the weeds up and around Winwin, making them pull tight to entrap him, yet once Renjun’s vision clears, he sees they constricted around nothing. 

“Where’d he go?” Renjun asks out loud. 

“He’s over here!” Chenle screams, throwing a fireball at Winwin, who is now standing in front of the younger. Could he teleport too? 

Trying again, Renjun focuses on the weeds and summons them around Winwin, calling out to Chenle who throws his flame over to the plants. They catch easily, right at the bottom where they’re stuck in the concrete. All of this- and to no avail: Renjun watches Winwin disappear, hearing an echoey laugh somewhere near him. Teleportation is a bitch. 

He whips around and he’s ready to give up honestly, until he sees Winwin standing next to several images of himself. This can’t be right- Renjun rubs at his eyes but double, triple, quadruple Winwin is still there. 

Chenle runs up from behind Renjun smelling of smoke, and getting a good look at Winwin’s quadruplets. “Fucking huh?” 

As an homage to the first day, Lucas from behind Winwin brings up the debris from their fight, launching it through the mirage of figures right at the two boys. Chenle’s eyes widen as he sees rocks cut through the afterimages of Winwin’s bodies and turns around to protect Renjun. Yellow flashes from around them as the rocks smash against the barrier he created, two layers thick as safeguard. 

“Too slow,” Renjun hears, opening his eyes to see Ten crouching inside their bubble. Chenle summons a flame and brings his hand down onto the concrete right as Renjun breaks the barrier, gathering the energy to propel them several feet back as the oxygen inside it gets eaten by flames. They’re panting as they land, Renjun feeling a hand on his back as his feet touch the ground and he turns around again, right arm swinging. 

Kun catches it easily, and Renjun feels a soundwave from the impact of his swing reverberate through the lot, shaking him off his feet. 

“That’s enough,” Kun says calmly. He looks a little pleased, only a little. 

“So you got faster,” they hear Ten say. Lucas jolts a little, shocked at how close Ten is standing next to him. He’s completely scratch free- not even any dust marring his clothes. Renjun scoffs, brushing all the dirt on his clothes off. Chenle’s singed the cuffs of his t-shirt, and both of their jeans have soot on the knees. Sweat covers their necks and arms in a thin sheen out of nervousness and warmth, and their palms ache. 

Kun nods while he gives the boys a once over. “Faster, and you know more now than before.” Though Renjun already knew this, it’s something of a shock when he hears it come out of Kun’s mouth. 

He remembers back to a month ago when all he could do was disintegrate a rose out of stress, the ashes a cruel reminder of the reality that Renjun couldn’t control whatever abilities he has. Now in the middle of a half empty parking lot and the ugly loud horn of a car blaring at the shaking coming from their fight, Renjun thinks that maybe they weren’t fucking with them as much as he had originally thought. 

It’s sometime in the middle of the night, right when he is on the edges of sleep, when Renjun bolts up. The last thing he wants to do is be up right now, but he is, and he’s thinking about Jeno. Not uncommon in the middle of the night; what is more uncommon though is Renjun wanting to repeat bad memories. 

But right before his unconscious brain kicked in, his conscious one hard one last thought: Renjun wants to confess again. And this time, he will do it better, because Kun and Ten and Lucas and Winwin taught him how to.

Another new day. 

This time around Renjun is almost more nervous than the last, several months ago. He takes several deep breaths, passing the time by picking at the flower buds he’s hidden in his locker. There’s a note attached, this time with ribbon, and he’s also taped it down for safety. Just like the first go around, he hears Jeno’s voice carry down from up the hall before he can even see him, and his heart rate immediately increases. Willing himself to calm down, he waits until Jeno has made it down the hallway, then turns around to watch Jeno walk towards him, one hand on the flower inside the locker. 

“Hi Renjun,” Jeno says cheerfully. He turns to open his locker, twisting the lock and swinging the door to find a red rose leaned up against his books. It’s a perfect rose- just the right amount of petals sprouted just the right width on a bluntly thorned stem. Renjun watches the smile grow on Jeno’s face and he clears his throat. When Jeno faces him again, Renjun pulls out the budding stems he’s holding. Now or never.

“I like you, Jeno. A lot,” Renjun starts, the rosebud in the center beginning to bloom as he speaks, “and I feel really dumb for not telling you earlier.” He watches the rose finish blooming, gripping the other unbloomed flowers in his hand before continuing.

“You’re really charming and really nice to me and I was too scared to say that I wanted to hang out with you more because there were always other people that I didn’t want to tell you around and I’ve got some really wacky problems that probably would’ve been too weird to try to impress you with, but I learned how to control them, so I’m really sorry for messing up your shirt and setting your other flower on fire last time and running away, but do you want to go out with me?” As Renjun’s words spill out of his mouth, the other buds started to bloom- little Lily of the Valleys and Baby’s Breath flowers breaking open to surround the rose in white. Jeno can only watch the bouquet forming in awe, letting his gaze finally drift up to where Renjun was looking at him expectantly. 

“Yeah, I really like you too-” Jeno says, the corners of his lips starting to curve.

“Oh thank god.”

“And I would love to go out with you.” Jeno breaks out into a dazzling smile and Renjun is so happy he could jump out of his skin. He hands Jeno the newly bloomed bouquet, hands shaking a little from excitement. Is now too early for a kiss? Renjun kind of really wants to give him a kiss. While Jeno admires the flowers, Renjun takes down the barrier he put up to block out the other people in the hall, their noises louder as it dissolves. Jeno looks around at the sudden clarity of voices, not noticing before that it had been muffled. 

“Sorry, I don’t work well with an audience,” Renjun says sheepishly. Jeno has no idea what he means by that but he lets it go anyway. Some of the students turn and whisper about where Jeno suddenly got this bouquet from, where was it before, who even gave it to him, and Renjun swells with joy knowing he was the one who charmed Jeno like this. 

Jeno reaches out his hand to link fingers with Renjun and asks about the roses, nearly glowing, and Renjun considers opening a flower shop with Jeno.

**Author's Note:**

> ill write a better noren one day so have this in the meantime. happy october


End file.
